Tristan's Camp Journal
by claireivm
Summary: Tristan is a Roman son of Apollo. When a new camp is built, he's invited to go. He tries to heal and keep demigods alive. But being half-god makes it hard to survive.
1. A Vision of Death

**February 13, 2015**

This is my first day at Camp Parthenon. I'm really excited to be here, but also sad to leave New Rome. I was supposed to come earlier, but Abuelo got sick and I stayed a little longer to take care of him.

I'm a doctor in the Legion. It's a relative title. I would never be allowed to treat mortal patients outside of camp, not until I get a real medical degree, anyway. Being a son of Apollo has made me a great doctor for demigods, though.

I already met one guy who seems cool. His name is Nathan, son of Bacchus. He gave me a quick tour of camp. He's pretty cool.

It's almost time for lunch and I am famished. I may write again later. First I want to see the infirmary, meet my siblings, and take a nap. These journals are a very clever idea. It gives demigods a good way to relieve their stress. I think I will enjoy being here.

 **February 13, again**

I haven't had a vision in a long time. But today I had a vision that was very unnerving. I don't know what it meant. I'll have to think about it more before I can come to a conclusion. Here is what happened.

I was sitting down to lunch with some of my siblings. I looked around at the other demigods and saw a scowling girl in all black. There was a blond boy squirming excitedly next to her, babbling and waving his hands. She was pointedly ignoring him, but he seemed unphased. Her gaze swept across the pavillion coldly, as though looking for a threat. Her eyes met mine.

Suddenly I was surrounded by white, swirling snow and completely exhausted. I knew it wasn't really me, so I took a mental step back to observe. I had been seeing the world through the eyes of a teenage girl with stringy brown hair. She was a little too skinny and had dark circles under her eyes. She sat down and nearly fell asleep before a large monster swooped out of the sky. It was almost a woman, but not. She had snake hair and large bat wings, and somehow I knew what it was… a gorgon. The monster snatched the girl off the ground and carried her off. She thrashed and screamed. The gorgon shook her and then snapped her neck with a terrible, echoing crack.

I gasped as I was sucked back into the real world. I blinked a few times to reorient myself and looked around. A group of demigods was clustered around a table across the pavillion. I stood and went closer to see what was happening. The girl I had seen before my vision was shaking on the ground. A frantic demigod girl called for help and I pushed my way through the growing crowd.

I pointed at two guys. "Help me get her to the infirmary." I grabbed a napkin off a nearby table, folded it quickly, and placed it in the girl's mouth to prevent her from biting her tongue. I showed the guys where to hold her shoulders and legs to keep her from hurting anyone as she seized. I held her arms tightly and we carefully made our way to the infirmary. We laid her down on a very squeaky bed. She had stopped seizing, but her eyelids fluttered and she whimpered a bit. I took the napkin out of her mouth so it wouldn't inhibit her breathing.

She began muttering nonsense. "Run, run, run, run, gorgon, run. So tired. It hurts…" With a start, I realized she must have seen the same thing I did.

A few people were gathered in the doorway, trying to see what was going on. I waved them away. "Stop gawking. She'll be fine. She just needs rest."

The girl groaned and furrowed her brow. She seemed to be waking up. "Can you talk?" I asked while I checked her pulse. It was quick, but not indicative of any severe problems.

"Yeah…"

"Good," I said. "Open your eyes." I needed to check her pupils to see if they were dilated. They looked fine, so I figured she probably didn't have a concussion. I know from experience that visions can be rough. Especially if you haven't had many before.

"What's wrong with your eyes?" She asked, catching me off-guard. I laughed, but didn't answer her question because I didn't know what she meant.

"My name's Tristan. Nice to meet you." I placed some ambrosia on her tongue to see if it helped. She seemed to relax a bit, but shut her mouth tightly, refusing any more. She sat up and I handed her another square, which she held for a moment before eating. I waited for her to continue the introductions with her name.

"Oh, yeah. My name's Claire," she suddenly said.

She was the daughter of Pluto I had heard rumors about. That explained the all-black outfit. A little cliche perhaps, but I guess I can't really judge since I like to wear my labcoat whether I'm doctoring or not. "If I had to guess I'd say you're a daughter of Pluto?"

"You're a son of Apollo right?" Claire asked rhetorically.

"Well, that was a nice introduction," I said quickly. "How about we just get right down to it? You experienced a vision. A pretty nasty one too. But you have no control."

"Excuse me?!" she protested.

"Since it happened once, it'll probably happen again. You can't have a seizure and mumble to yourself whenever you have a vision. And the screaming is definitely out."

"So how do you know I was having a vision?" Claire questioned.

"Because I saw it too," I whispered. "At first I thought you had just passed out at the same time I had a vision, but then I realized it couldn't have been a coincidence. And the things you were muttering… they make sense."

"oh. What?"

"Exactly. I've never heard of two demigods sharing a vision at the same time. Without help from a god anyway," I said excitedly. If there is a way for demigods to share visions, it could be very useful.

"Well yeah. I don't really know about this prophecy stuff. But my sister Hazel can sort of share memories with people…" Claire mused.

"Memories!" I interrupted. It suddenly made sense. I'm a little sad that we didn't discover a new way to share visions, but the memory thing is cool too. "That's it! That's why it didn't feel normal." I frowned when I realized that if Claire had shared the memory with me then it must have been from something in her past. "That's a messed up memory."

"Yeah. You must've had one styx of a childhood," she remarked.

"What are you talking about? That's not my memory."

"It's not mine either. I've, thankfully, never met a gorgon in my life. And I'd never be anywhere I couldn't at least use my shadows to defend myself," she stated. Her voice lowered even more. "I felt pretty helpless in that memory. And whoever's memory that was definitely died."

"Did you get that death sense?" I asked. I have always wondered what that is like.

"Well, yeah, but it didn't feel… recent."

"What's it like?" I asked eagerly. It's very interesting that children of Pluto can not only tell when someone dies nearby, but also if someone died in the past.

Claire thought for a minute before answering. "When a death occurs it feels sort of like shivers running down my spine. When I go somewhere a death has occurred in the recent past it's more like a tingling in my fingers."

I wonder if it is possible for children of Pluto to sense the absence of death. What kind of place would have never had a death ever? Could that skill be used somehow? Sorry. Where was I? Right.

"Wait!" I finally registered what she'd said earlier. "You said the death didn't feel recent… So we saw someone else's memory of dying?"

"Yeah I guess. Probably… a year ago at least," Claire confirmed.

I began wondering who the person was. She had to have been a demigod, right? If the death happened here, before camp was built, then what was she doing so far from Camp Jupiter or Camp Half-Blood? Did she know she was a demigod? I didn't notice the Legion markings on her arm, so maybe she's Greek?

It's going to kill me now. I don't know why Claire and I shared that memory. How could we experience someone else's memory? Why _that_ memory?

**Thank you for reading. This story is part of a group. You can also read Claire's Camp Journal and Monique's Journal. I wish I could post direct links, but that hasn't worked so far.**


	2. The Eternal Virgins Conquer Valentine's

February 14, 2015

I like Valentine's Day. It's not a big holiday, but it's nice. Ever since I was little my mom has given me a small gift on Valentine's. Usually it's a candy bar with a note. She says that the holiday celebrates all love; romantic, family, friends, it doesn't matter. When I got older I started giving her notes too. It's a nice tradition. I'm sad I can't see her today.

I woke up this morning to find a package about the size of a shoe box at the foot of my bed. At first I thought it might be from my mom. I opened it up to find a nice charcoal gray suit, black button-up shirt, and a dark green tie. There's no way my mom could have afforded it. I couldn't think who else might have wanted to give me a suit. I didn't think it was a mistake though since it was placed right by my feet.

Mike was lying on his bunk next to mine, still asleep and with his mouth wide open. He had an identical box at the foot of his bed. I thought maybe it was a gift from our dad? I shook him. "Do you know what these are for?"

"No..." he groaned. He rolled over, kicking the box off his bed, and kept snoring. He obviously wouldn't be much help. I turned the box over in my hands to inspect it better. A little slip of paper I hadn't noticed before fell out. It was white, with graceful, swooping words written in pink.

"Happy Valentine's Day! Good luck tonight. I've already decked out your cello! ❤"

I jumped up and ran to the closet where we all keep our various instruments. I pulled my cello case out of the closet and unzipped it with trembling hands. My mouth dropped open. I pulled Penny out the closet very gently. Yeah… It's normal for people to name their instruments. I named her Penny because of her nice copper color. But…

"Aw dude!" Mike interrupted my moment of shock. I guess he woke up. "That's sweet! I haven't seen a white cello before."

He's a band guy, so he didn't realize how bad the situation was. Cellos aren't supposed to be white! Painting instruments can change the tone and dampen the sound. I tightened my bow, pulling it quickly across the strings. I listened carefully, but couldn't hear a difference from its normal tone. I played another couple notes, the first couple measures of Bach's Cello Suite no. 1. Somehow, the resonation was the same. Who would color my cello? And why? And how did they keep the tone the same?

"Hey guys." Shawn bounced into the room with wild bedhead. "There's a chick here that wants to talk to us!" He ran up to a mirror and slicked back a tuft of traffic-cone orange hair that bounced right back. I rolled my eyes at him. He's only 11 years old, but already thinks he's old enough to date and wants a girlfriend really bad.

I gently set down Penny and walked past the bunks to the door. One of the Venus girls was waiting for us on the porch. I don't remember her name. She was pretty though, her long blond hair falling in perfect ringlets. Most of my siblings were already out there listening to what she had to say.

"So, like, tonight is the Valentine's dance," she buzzed. "And we need music, so… yeah. Can you guys play some instruments? Maybe like, a group of four. Like, a violin and a bigger violin and a super-big violin." She flashed a brilliant smile at one of the guys.

A collective groan came from our cabin. "So, they want a string quartet," April took over. "I can play first, so we just need a second, viola, and cello."

"I'll do cello," I offered, realizing why my cello was suddenly white.

"Cassandra, you're on second," April commanded. Cassandra groaned and mumbled to Paul who was sitting next to her. April and Cassandra are full siblings. That doesn't seem to happen often, but their mom is a professional electric violinist who travelled the world playing with groups like the Trans-siberian Orchestra. I guess that was enough to catch Apollo's attention twice.

One of the guys raised Shawn's hand for him. "Shawn plays viola."

Shawn jerked his hand away. "I would totally play viola, but I'm gonna have a super hot date tonight," he excused.

April raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? You already asked someone?"

"Not yet, but I'll have a date by noon," Shawn countered.

"Dude! You're like, 11. That's too young to go to a dance," Cassandra sassed. "If I have to suffer through this, so do you." They stuck their tongues out at each other. April shot her younger sister a look. Cassandra is about 3 months older than Shawn, meaning she's already 12. I haven't been here long, but from what I've seen it looks like they have a pretty strong sibling rivalry.

"I am not too young!"

"Alright," April interrupted. "If you can get a date by noon you won't have to play tonight. Otherwise, I'll expect you to practice with the group at 1:00 sharp."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," Shawn mumbled.

"Swear it on your A-string," Cassandra demanded. Shawn grumbled a little, but agreed. Some of the younger kids in our cabin seem to have this tradition of swearing on their A-strings. It almost makes some sort of poetic sense, I guess. All the string instruments have one, and it's the note the entire orchestra tunes to. It's a little ridiculous though.

Practice went well and the music wasn't too hard. Most of the songs were familiar, modern music. Shawn was there. I guess he didn't get a date. I wasn't very surprised, but I did feel a little sorry for him. None of the older girls would go with him and I heard the younger girls were going to hang out by themselves. I'm not sure what the younger boys are going to do.

We had about an hour and a half after rehearsal to eat dinner and get dressed up. I left the suit jacket and tie in my cabin. Even though February should be cold, camp is enchanted so the weather isn't nearly as bad as outside. Besides, I don't like playing the cello in a suit unless I really have to. The sleeves are restrictive and the tie just gets in the way.

The dance was going pretty well... until the huntresses arrived. They threw the doors open and ran inside whooping like a pack of wild animals. The dancers parted around them, leaving the center of the floor empty. A strange tinge of fear pierced my gut. That's when I noticed that Claire was with them. She carried a violin with her and wore a dark green dress. She lifted the violin and began a fast-paced fiddle song. A fierce, redheaded girl in plaid jumped right in, doing some sort of folk dance thing. She spun wildly, kicking her legs faster and faster and leaping impossibly high. The other huntresses joined in. Everything happened so fast it was like a tornado had blown through the pavillion.

I sat forward to watch. I noticed one daughter of Venus who was particularly furious at the raucous display. Her boyfriend quickly pulled her away. The other demigods seemed confused, watching the display with a mix of confusion and awe. Between swishing skirts and flying hair I caught glimpses of Claire. Her eyes were closed and a little smile pulled at the corners of her mouth. She moved with the music, loving every second. She was pretty good too. Her playing position was a little odd though. She gripped her bow just a bit too tightly, losing some of the dexterity in her wrist. She must be self-taught.

When the song came to an end I applauded quietly, shaking my head and grinning. April shot me a glare. She swept her hair back over her shoulder and cued us to resume playing. The rest of the dance wasn't nearly as exciting. April took a break for a little while to dance with her boyfriend and Cassie got to play first, which she seemed to enjoy. First violins get all the fun melody parts. Shawn played his viola well, but made it painfully obvious that he was miserable the whole time. He kept looking up at the girls and sighing.

I stayed after the dance to help clean up. When I finally made it back to the cabin it was well-past midnight. My cello flashed and turned back to its normal coppery color when I placed it in its case. I sighed with relief and fell asleep instantly.

So I actually wrote this journal entry on February 15, but it was about the 14th. That counts, right?


	3. Not a Good Day

****February 16, 2015****

Today began well. It was my first time being in charge of the infirmary after being an assistant and observing for a couple days. I woke up early and went to the infirmary. I dismissed my very tired-looking sibling who had been on night duty.

I saw my new white lab coat as soon as I entered the back room. "TJ Davis" was embroidered on the left breast pocket. It fitted perfectly. I felt so official wearing it. I checked on a camper who had been lying on a cot for a couple hours. His file claimed him as a son of Mars. He had a nasty cut on his left arm that had required stitches. Midnight fights in that cabin are getting too frequent. After a quick check I excused him and told him to take it easy, knowing he wouldn't.

The morning passed easily. A couple of demigods came in with minor cuts or sprains and patched up pretty quickly with some ambrosia. Shawn was supposed to be helping me in the morning, but he was almost an hour late. He had probably slept in.

I took inventory and noticed we were out of belladonna. Shawn arrived just a moment later and I told him to go get more.

"Do I have to?" he whined.  
"Restocking is part of your job isn't it?" I responded. Shawn huffed and ran off. He came back just a little bit later and told me that it would be delivered soon and he had to get to class. I let him go and sat down with April's notes from yesterday.

Everyone seems to assume that visions come naturally to Apollo's kids. That's not exactly true. It's a very useful skill, but one that is very difficult to practice, let alone master. Visions have been even scarcer in the past few years because of Gaea and her children interfering with the oracle. Or maybe we would be lucky enough to avoid another big war in the next few years and thus have no need for so many prophecies.

April is the one who came up with the idea. She's hoping that we can make a potion to induce visions. I read through her notes carefully. Belladonna is a natural hallucinogen, so it holds some promise as a base ingredient. The trick is going to be neutralizing the plant's poisonous properties. Some enchantment could help too...

My reading was interrupted by a knock at the office door. I jumped up to see who it was. To my surprise, Claire stood on the other side of the door with a bundle of belladonna.

. . .

Everything was dark, the only light coming from stars. Music played in the distance, almost drowned out by the sound of rushing water. I recognized the music and realized what was happening. It was the night of the dance. I was in another memory. I pushed my consciousness out to a third-person perspective.

Two guys were arguing. I recognized Nathan, but not the other one. He was shorter and stockier than Nathan. His face was purple with rage as he shoved Nathan hard in the chest. "She will be mine!"

"She doesn't like you Keiden. She chose me. Get over it!" Nathan snorted. His fists were clenched, but he kept them at his sides.

"You're no match for her!" Keiden growled. "We would be perfect together. You're just getting in the way!"

"Go away Keiden," Nathan warned. "You're drunk again."

"Oh, am I?" Keiden growled. A wicked grin spread across his face, malice in his dark eyes. He was sober.

Nathan's fists raised into a defensive position. "We don't have to do this. There are plenty of other girls for you to flirt with."

"But you won't give up Monique."

"I would never leave Mo. More specifically, I'd never let a scumbag like you near my girl. Especially after what you tried to do in her own cabin only a few days ago! I won't let you hurt her." Nathan shook with anger.

Keiden became eerily calm, a fury I am too familiar with. "Shame," he clucked. "Things could have been simpler." He dove forward. Nathan tried to duck underneath and throw off Keiden's balance with a tackle, but Keiden jumped and regained his footing easily. He spun around for another attack. Keiden feinted a punch and kicked Nathan in the gut, shoving him into a large tree.

I winced, but there was nothing I could do to interfere.

Keiden's arm flew quickly toward Nathan's head, knocking him to the ground on top of a sharp rock. It would have caused a concussion at the least. But a sinking feeling in my gut told me it was worse than a concussion.

"We could have been friends if you weren't selfish," Keiden scolded. He continued to taunt Nathan's slack form, shaking him. I was pulled back into reality with a jerk.

. . .

I stood still for a moment to make sense of my vertigo. Claire was sprawled on the floor. "Ow," she groaned. I helped her up and over to one of the squeaky little mattresses. She sat down and I checked to see if her pupils were dilated. They seemed fine, so she probably didn't have a concussion at least. I wrapped up the belladonna she'd dropped and put it away, pausing for a moment to lean against one of the shelves. I didn't want to believe it, but I knew Nathan was dead.

I went back into the main room of the infirmary. Claire had stood up and was trying to walk, but clearly too dizzy to go anywhere. I pushed her back onto the mattress.

"I have to tell Monique!" she glowered.

"No, you don't," I reasoned, handing her an ambrosia square. "You need to eat this."

"Monique's boyfriend was murdered!" Claire yelled. "Don't you think it's important for her to know?!" So Nathan really was dead. I was grateful no one else was in the infirmary.

"Hey, Nathan was a nice guy. I'm upset too." I handed her another small bite of ambrosia. "He's already dead Claire, you know he is. There isn't anything we can do about it."

"Two days," she mumbled.

"Right. You won't even be able to walk in a straight line for a while. You can't leave for at least another ten minutes," I ordered.

"So, another shared vision…" I prompted. Claire folded her arms and turned away from me. I sighed. I went to dig through some cabinets and reorganized equipment, but waited in the room to make sure she didn't leave early.

A few minutes passed in tense silence. I couldn't wait anymore. "Will you talk to me now?" She didn't answer. "Fine," I decided. "I will talk to you."

"I think I figured a few things out. My grandma was Melinoe, the goddess of nightmares. And that must be why we see visions together. You know. Death plus nightmares." I paused to gauge Claire's reaction. I continued when she didn't say anything. "I think they must be triggered by eye contact. At lunch Friday, and today just barely. Both times we made eye contact first." I noticed my hands glowing just a little and tried to turn them off with a little shake.

"So why didn't we have a vision at the dance?" Claire countered.

"I wondered about that too, but we never actually made eye contact. I was looking at my sheet music most of the time and you were pretty busy enjoying going stag with the hunters of Diana." I grinned at the unintentional pun. "Stag. Hunters. Diana!"

Claire didn't think it was funny. She rolled her eyes then hopped off the bed and ran out the door. I looked at my watch. Ten minutes were up.

If these visions kept occurring, Claire would have to be more prepared for them. She obviously wasn't used to having visions and had no idea how to handle them.

After she left I went back to the office and studied the belladonna file a little longer. Something odd occurred to me. We were working on making something to trigger visions, but could we make something to prevent them? I've got a few ideas, but nothing solid yet.

**Thank you for reading! Please favorite/follow for future updates. And check out Claire and Monique's journals too.**


	4. A Trial, Broken Heart, and Funeral

**February 17, 2015**

Yesterday Monique was brought into the infirmary with hypothermia. Monique found Nathan's body in the woods and stayed with him despite being dressed ratherly poorly for the weather. The camp's borders, like Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood, keep out most of the cold and snow. But yesterday a bit of snow was able to penetrate that shield. I think it may have been Monique's powers as a daughter of Zeus that allowed a small part of the blizzard outside to get through.

April agreed to watch the infirmary for a few hours today if I took her night shift tomorrow. Keiden's trial was today. I had to give my medical opinion on Nathan's death. The cause was trauma to the base of the skull which had severed Nathan's posterior auricular artery, causing him to bleed out very quickly. Nathan also had bruising I knew was inflicted by Keiden's punches. Everything was indicative of a struggle, although Keiden tried to excuse his actions as a brotherly squabble ending in an accident.

Claire was a witness because of the vision and I gave a statement in agreement to her testimony. It was enough to get Keiden kicked out of camp, although his real punishment is yet to be determined by Bacchus - if that will ever happen.

I walked briskly back to the infirmary, barely noticing when I bumped into another guy. I looked up to apologize and noticed he had one brown eye and one blue eye. Heterochromia Iridis. I wonder if it might have something to do with his godly parent. His face contorted in a myriad of emotions, startling me. He ran off before I could introduce myself.

 **February 19,2015**

Monique has pneumonia. And she still hasn't woken up. I suppose it's lucky she isn't awake to feel any pain. A few people have come by to visit, but I haven't been able to give many answers. I don't know when she will come to. As far as I can ascertain, none of her physical ailments are enough to keep her in a coma. I don't know what to think except that it must be caused by her mental and emotional pain.

 **February 21, 2015**

Monique finally woke up this afternoon. She is still recovering from her pneumonia, and very weak, but she will be fine. Amber came to visit and delivered the terrible news of Nathan's murder. For several hours afterward Monique alternated crying and staring blankly at the ceiling. She hardly seemed to notice anything around her.

Around sunset Annabeth came to the infirmary. She looked at Monique with worry, then stepped over to me. "Can she come to Nathan's funeral?"

I hesitated for a moment then nodded. "Yes. It might be good for her to mourn. But she should come back afterward."

Annabeth smiled appreciatively. She sat down on the edge of Monique's bed, placing a hand on her knee. Monique's steely blue eyes finally focused on the camp director. They spoke softly for a moment and Annabeth helped Monique sit up, wrapping her in an embrace. They left the infirmary a moment later.

I exchanged my labcoat for a jacket and headed out into the chilly night. I came to the amphitheater just in time to see the delicate purple shroud catch fire. It burned quickly, violet flames consuming Nathan's body. Monique collapsed to the ground with a sob. Annabeth knelt beside her, wrapping her arms around Monique's quivering shoulders. I stepped closer, but Annabeth waved me off. As the other demigods began to leave the arena I went back to the infirmary. Monique and Annabeth arrived a while later. I slipped into the office to give them some privacy.

It makes me sick. Nathan died so young, before he could get the chance to prove himself. And Keiden… murdering his own brother over what? Because he was obsessed with Monique? Monique. I've seen for myself how Nathan's death has affected her.

I wish I could say Nathan's death was a rare tragedy. The truth is, no demigod makes it through adolescence unscathed. We all get messed up. But we fight anyway. For our friends, our parents, and for ourselves. We fight for that little bit of good in the world. Because if we won't, who will?

I'm sorry for going all soap-opera there. I should get to sleep.

**Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment and follow/favorite. And be sure to check out Monique's Journal and Claire's Camp Journal to read their sides of the story.**


	5. Intruder

**February 18, 2015**

The infirmary suddenly became very busy at about 2:13. The Mars cabin had just started their wrestling practice. One by one, injured demigods marched into the infirmary. Some needed a little ambrosia and were fine. Others needed stitches, and in one case a splint.

Things began dying down a short time later, and only a few people were left sitting on the cots. I slipped back into the office for some bandages to replace the ones I'd used. I could feel a headache forming and had my head down, massaging the base of my skull as I entered the room. When I looked up I was surprised by a guy reaching up toward the top shelf. He froze like a faun caught stealing treats. One of his eyes was blue, the other was brown. He seemed to have two expressions battling for dominance. Guilt and fear maybe?

"This room is off-limits," I warned. The file containing my notes on belladonna and the anti-vision serum was clutched in one of his hands. I snatched it back. "And the files are confidential."

He held up his hands, mumbling some nonsense. I gritted my teeth, glaring at him. "Get out of my office. And don't come back to the infirmary." He scampered out the door.

**Thank you for reading! Please leave a review and follow/favorite the story. And be sure to check out Monique's Journal and Claire's Camp Journal for their perspectives.**

**Sorry this chapter is so short. There will be another later in the week.**


	6. Practicing Prophecy

**February 19, 2015**

April arrived to take over the infirmary early. She, Mike, and I take turns being in charge so there is always someone there in case of an emergency. April and I do independent study when the infirmary isn't busy, which happens often enough. And when we aren't busy we have other experiments and research we do.

I exchanged my labcoat for a jacket and stepped into the crisp morning air. The sky was a rich royal blue dotted with silver, that deepest hour before the sun comes up. I've been an early riser almost as long as I can remember, although it's hard to tell if that is because of my dad's unique genetics or the strict routine of Roman Legion. I considered going back to my cabin to sleep for an hour, but I knew that would only give me a headache. My feet carried me slowly across camp as I watched my breath cloud in front of me.

I found myself thinking about Claire and our visions. A shiver that had nothing to do with the cold tickled the back of my neck. Those memories of death creep me out more than I'd like to admit. But Claire… the visions are even harder on her than they are on me. If there were some way I could help her… then I realized there was something I could do.

I strode up to the Hades cabin and knocked on the door. I didn't even think about how bizarrely early it was for most people until Claire answered the door looking very tired. I avoided eye contact as I explained my plan. After a tense moment Claire let me inside and told me to wait while she got dressed.

We walked to a small clearing just inside the forest. I started by explaining what I was taught when I first had visions as a kid. "Once you recognize that you're in a vision you can control it better. If you concentrate really hard, you should be able to keep your real self still. If I can, I push myself into a sort of third-person view. But, I've been thinking that since these visions are more like memories, it's much much easier to just pretend it's a dream."

"Really?!" Claire complained. "That's it? You're just telling me to focus."

I wished I could offer better advice, but visions are kind of strange territory. "There's no specific technique. Visions are different for everyone."

"Well, if that's all you have to say, then I'm leaving," Claire huffed. She turned back toward the cabins, but I quickly jumped up to stop her.

. . .

The vision started instantly. I focused to keep myself from falling over and wondered if Claire had managed the same. The dreamplace was a dry, yellowed field. There was a lot of noise surrounding, uh, me. Swords clashing, and men yelling. Likely a war zone. Warm, dark blood oozed from a wound in my abdomen. Afternoon heat sweltered, creating a haze. My limbs slowly went numb, until death finally came.

. . .

The memory felt long, but hardly any time had passed in the real world. Claire had fallen on the ground again. I grinned down at her, about to ask how she was feeling, when she swiped my legs out from underneath me. I fell on my back, the breath forced out of my chest. I focused on sucking in air slowly, until my lungs opened up again.

"What was that for?" I wheezed.

"Uh, you're the one who popped up right in front of me and forced a vision!" she yelled back.

"Hey, I experienced it too," I pointed it out.

"That's stupid. You have visions all the time!"

Her words stung. "No. I don't. I've only ever had a few visions. They're not as common as people think." I guess it has been a while since I asked Apollo to take away my gift of prophecy.

We lay in the grass for a long minute of silence. I decided to break the awkward tension. "So… how'd you do?"

Claire snorted. "I'm on the ground aren't I? You know, I actually managed to figure it out. Not that you were much help." She struggled to a standing position and stumbled a few steps. I jumped up to steady her, but she pushed me away and walked briskly back to her cabin. I shoved my frigid fingers back into my pockets and shuffled over to my own cabin.

**Thank you for reading! Please favorite/follow the story. Check out Monique's Journal and Claire's Camp Journal for their perspectives.**

**Sorry for the delay in uploading. I was experiencing some technical difficulties. I am catching up on chapters as rapidly as possible. Thank you for your patience.**


	7. An Eventful Game

**February 20, 2015**

Another game of Capture the Flag. I was on the yellow team this time, positioned about 20 yards from the flag to defend it from the red team. A small movement in the shadows caught my eye. There was a patch of darkness that was just a little too dark, slowly moving closer. Claire. I knelt down behind a bush. When she was close enough, I jumped out to fight. I ended up a little too close and accidentally made eye contact.

"I hate you!" she spat.

. . .

The vision was cold and dark. Pangs of hunger, thirst, and shivers plagued me for what seemed an eternity. Finally, a quiet voice whispered. "Please. Can't I just die already?" One of the gods must have heard. The rock ceiling cracked and caved in, squeezing the air out of my lungs.

. . .

When I snapped back to reality I was relieved to see Claire still standing. She sat down quickly, shooting me an evil glare. I sat down too, careful to keep my distance. I felt tired, but not as bad as Claire must have been. "That was awesome," I said sarcastically. "Why can't we ever have a not-painful vision?"

"Because you're descended from Melinoe, goddess of nightmares," Claire snapped.

"Oh, right... Well, you're getting a lot better," I complimented.

"Gee, thanks."

"No, I mean it! You're becoming a pro!" I teased. "And, I didn't exactly mean to run into you and start a vision."

"You know, it sort of seems like you enjoy these memories!"

"Hey, why not?" I joked. It was the wrong thing to say.

Claire pounced at me, and I barely had time to jump up and stop her fists from connecting with my jaw. Her knee jerked up into my gut. I doubled over, releasing my grasp on Claire's fists. She grasped the back of my neck tightly.

"Why don't you just tell me where your team's flag is, and we can leave each other alone?" She had no idea that our flag was so close.

"Not happening," I smiled. I swung my sword out of the scabbard and Claire's grip released. She recovered quickly, returning with her own sword, nipping my shoulder. It stung, and I retaliated with a swipe at her lower leg. Claire ducked low and got around behind me, slicing my back and trying to continue ahead toward my team flag. I pulled her back with such force that we both fell down. She was on top and tried to jerk away. I elbowed her face in my struggle to hold her down. I stopped for just a second to look at her nose. Blood was pouring from it, but the bone wasn't broken. My momentary distraction allowed Claire to roll away and get her sword out from underneath her. She slashed at my chest, forcing me to get up and defend myself.

Finally a horn signalled the end of the game and an end to our fight.

"Let's go to the infirmary," I suggested. Various muscles all over my body felt bruised and sore. I handed Claire my sash to hold against her nose. We started walking toward the infirmary. Luckily Claire's nosebleed ended quickly. "You're the best fighter I've faced at this camp," I commented.

"Yeah. You're not too bad," she retorted. At first I thought she was angry, but I saw just the hint of a smile on her lips and relaxed a little. Despite her injuries, she clearly enjoys a good fight.

We had almost reached the edge of the forest when we ran into Jayce and his girlfriend. Jayce looked guilty and a little scared. "You!" I spat without thinking. My fists were clenched at my sides.

"Don't hold a grudge for something that happened in the past," he tried to defend.

His girlfriend interpreted the situation all wrong, stepping up to defend him and sass me.

"Why don't you ask him what happened." I jerked my head in Jayce's direction.

He frowned and turned away from Amy's sympathetic gaze. "I just, couldn't handle it anymore, always seeing people's past and future with just a touch. I'm sorry Amy, I…"

"Woah!" Claire interrupted. "You touched me during the last game. What did you see?" She looked to be on the verge of panic.

"Nothing," Jayce began.

Claire rushed forward, pushing him up against a tree. "What did you see?" she demanded.

I pulled Claire away before she could do any real harm. She struggled against my restraint, but kept focusing on Jayce.

"Why did you ask what was wrong with me? What did you see?" Claire screamed.

"Nothing!" he insisted.

"Liar! Tell me!"

"I'm trying to. I didn't see anything. That's why I was confused."

Everything suddenly clicked. My grip slackened as I started thinking, and Claire slipped away from me. She didn't seem like she was going to hurt Jayce though, so I didn't care.

"Oh! I get it!" I exclaimed before I could stop myself. I kept thinking out loud. "Claire can repress memories."

"Seriously?!" Claire asked incredulously. "What the styx?"

"Yeah, that must be why we don't have visions right after one another. Your subconscious mind fights against it. I bet you could control it though…"

"You jerk!" she cut me off. "We didn't have to even have visions at all, and you didn't even tell me?!" She made a move to punch my jaw. I used her own momentum to spin her around and pin her arms back.

"Calm down feisty!" I exclaimed. "I'm sorry. It's something I've been wondering about for a while. I had a few theories, but I didn't want to tell you anything until I knew for sure."

Jayce seemed devastated. He explained how he had hoped to get rid of his visions using the belladonna serum I was working on. My anger melted away.

"Now my hope is gone," Jayce sighed.

"Maybe not…" I spoke up.

"Can you let me go now?" Claire complained.

I hadn't noticed I was still holding her. "Oh, yeah. You're not going to kill anyone right?" I blushed. Very manly.

Jayce continued his story, telling how he had found out about my experiments with belladonna. At the end of our conversation he apologized. I promised to get him the anti-vision serum if it ever proved successful.

The infirmary was surprisingly empty when Claire and I finally got there. April was already working on the few other campers there. I gave Claire an ambrosia square, ate one myself, then went to check on Monique again. She's doing fine physically, but I'm not a psychologist. I can't imagine what might be going on in her mind. Whatever it is, I am sure she'll need a lot of healing.

I went back to Claire and applied Neosporin to some of her worse cuts that hadn't healed with ambrosia and seemed to have dirt in them.

"So, I can stop the visions?" Claire asked.

"Your subconscious seems capable of it. I don't see why you couldn't learn to control that ability."

"Yeah. Okay. Maybe I'll try later when I'm feeling better."  
"Good idea," I agreed. "Take it easy for a while."

She snorted. We both knew she would be up the next day swinging her sword around and raising the dead, or whatever she does in her spare time.

It seems more urgent now than ever to finish the belladonna serum. For Jayce, and other demigods who could be dealing with terrible visions too.


	8. Poseidon's Daughter

**February 21, 2015**

I had barely drifted off to sleep when I was shaken harshly. Cassandra stood over me with wide eyes. "We need you in the infirmary. It's bad. Really, really bad. April has been trying, but she can't fix it, and…"

"Calm down," I assured her, jerking my shoes on. "Let's go." My heart was racing as we ran to the infirmary. I checked my watch on the way. It was 3:15 AM.

April was standing near a bed at the back of the infirmary. She was running her hand frantically through her disheveled hair, chewing on her lip. "Tristan!" she exclaimed when I entered. "I don't know what to do! I haven't seen anything like this before!"

Dark blood soaked through the white sheets. I peeled them back to look at a deep cut on the girl's leg. I let out a low whistle. Something didn't seem right. Her blood was too dark. Little veins of black stood out on her skin.

"It happened during Capture the Flag. She passed out after she was cut. I treated for shock. I poured nectar on the wound, but it did essentially nothing."

"This doesn't look like just a cut. It looks like poison," I observed.

"That's gotta be some pretty heavy stuff to do something like that," Cassie piped up. "If even nectar did absolutely nothing…"

"You're probably right," I sighed. "We need a tourniquet. Second shelf on the right, Cassie."

"It won't work," April groaned. She lifted the girl's shirt just enough for me to see the same creepy black veins crossing over her abdomen. It had spread too far.

I rubbed my palms into my eyes, trying to clear the sleepy fog from my brain. "Do we have the patient's file?" I asked. Cassie ran to get it for me. She returned very quickly. "Uh, we don't have a file. She's new."

I muttered a curse in Spanish. "We'll need to do a blood transfusion, try to clear out the poison, but since we don't know her blood type get me O-."

Cassie ran to get the blood. April broke the preserving spell on the bag and we hooked it up to the patient. In a real hospital, or even New Rome, I could have done so much more.

The transfusion was long and arduous, but seemed to return a little color to her cheeks. The dark, oozing blood was collected in an empty bag. Some of it was congealed, which I have only seen once before caused by a nasty snake bite. Not good. April helped me switch out packages to keep the transfusion going. We sent Cassie back to the cabin to get some sleep. After several hours, no significant change had been made. The poison seemed to spread as quickly as we could get rid of it.

"We need to know what kind of poison we're dealing with. It's nothing I've ever seen before," I admitted to April. "But every poison can be cured. We just need to know what it is if we want to create an effective antidote. You won't like this, but we need…"

"Claire," April hissed. "I know. Resident poison expert and creep."

"What do you have against Claire anyway?" I asked. April sneered and left the infirmary. She didn't return for a long time. I was beginning to worry when she came back, out of breath.

"I can't find Claire. She wasn't in her cabin, or the mess hall, or the temple. No one has seen her."

"Okay, okay… it's fine. We can do this." I snatched up a bag of the patient's (who I just learned is named Cadence) dark blood. "Can you take over? Try to slow the poison. I'll analyze this and see if I can find anything." I ran to the backroom. I pulled down every book that mentioned poison, starting with snake venom, and tried to match the symptoms. Nothing I could find would have caused black, congealed blood. My research was hopeless, turning up nothing for an hour.

The next step was to look at the substance under a microscope and test it against other chemicals. Nothing seemed to do any good. Water made it sizzle slightly, but the effect faded too quickly and wasn't nearly a promising enough solution.

"It's been too long," April interrupted my studying. "The transfusion isn't doing nearly enough. We're running out of blood. There has to be some other way…"

"I don't know what else we could…" A sudden darkness drew my gaze to the door.

"Where have you been? We were looking everywhere for you!" I exclaimed with frustration.

"It's none of your business," she snapped.

I took a deep breath, keeping my emotions in check. I need sleep. "Fine, it doesn't matter. I need you to look at some poison for me." I gestured to Cadence in explanation. "I don't know what happened, but her blood is black and the infection is spreading quickly."

"Show me the poison," Claire agreed. I pulled out the dark, sludgy liquid. Claire opened the vial, sniffing at it. "Did you get this from Cadence's blood?" she asked. I shrugged. Where else could I have found it?

"My guess is monster venom," Claire stated as she smelled the poison. "Strong, unique, possibly hallucinogenic." She lifted the vial to her lips.

"Woah!" I stopped her. "Are you sure that wouldn't kill you?

"Well… If I know how it tastes I could give you more information."  
"No. Don't risk your life drinking poison you aren't sure you're immune to." I hardly needed another patient with an unknown condition.

"How do you know so much about my poison immunity anyway?" Claire asked.

"Well, I read your medical file," I admitted. "The infirmary presidents are supposed to know about their patients. Interesting allergy by the way…"

Claire punched my arm. "Shut up."

"Hey. It's not _that_ weird for the daughter of the god of death to be allergic to orange juice, the most cheerful drink I can think of," I teased. Claire groaned. "Okay. I'm sorry. Can you tell me anything else about the poison?"

"Not without tasting it."

I took the vial from her. "Thank you for helping. Are you sure there's nothing else I need to know? Can you tell how long she has left?"

Claire snatched the vial from my grasp and took another sniff, sitting down hard. "This is… potent. She should already by dead unless she found a way to lessen the effects. If you can't find out how she did that, I'd give her an hour tops. And it's definitely a hallucinogen." She made a weird face and held out the vial. I replaced it in my pocket.

"So, uh… I went into Cadence's dream last night." Claire started. "She dragged me into it. It could have been a hallucination caused by the poison, but it also could have been a memory. There was a creepy snakish monster lady in there. That could be how she was poisoned if it's a memory."

I frowned. If what Claire had described were actually some kind of memory, maybe Cadence knew more than she could tell us. But there was someone who could find out what she knew. "You just gave me an idea!" I told Claire.

"Yeah yeah. Just take care of Cadence doctor."

Tristan scrunched his eyebrows and pursed his lips in an unattractive way. He suddenly perked up and shot me a bright, sunny smile. "You just gave me a brilliant idea!"

"Yeah, yeah. Just take care of your patient, doctor."

. . .

Jayce entered the infirmary nervously, Amy close behind him. I quickly led him back to where Cadence lay.

Amy gasped. "Cadence! Is she going to be okay? Is there anything I can do for her?"

"No. But Jayce… I'm so sorry to ask. But we need to know more about her condition. I think she knows how she was poisoned, and there may have been some way she was treating it."  
Jayce nodded in understanding, slipping off his gloves and stepping up to Cadence's bedside. He hesitated for a moment before pressing his fingertips against her forearm. His eyes widened and he jumped back.

"Holy Hera! She's… a daughter of Poseidon."

"What?" Amy asked. "We should tell Percy. He needs to know he has a sister. And she's… How bad is it?" Her blue eyes glistened with tears.

"Bad," Jayce answered. "But not hopeless. She knows how to cure the poison. It's complicated."

I nodded. "Let's get her stabilized. Jayce, please write down everything you think might be important. Amy, you're right. Percy needs to know. He may be able to help."

Amy jumped up from where she had been holding Cadence's hand and rushed out of the infirmary. "Jayce, did you happen to get her blood type?"

"A+," he answered snatching up a notepad. I nodded gratefully and began another transfusion.

**Thank you for reading! Please favorite/follow the story for future updates. And check out Monique's Journal and Claire's Camp Journal to read their sides of the story.**


End file.
